Pledge to

Email my Elected Officials AND Share this w/my Facebook Friends

This pledge closed 11 months ago

How this will help

Why Horse Burger Scandal Could Happen Here

While everyone jokes about horse meat contaminated burgers in the UK, several states are trying 2 approve horse slaughter 4 human consumption right here. So how could this play out in America? And why r issues w/horse meat far bigger than the industry is admitting?

1: What's in it & where is it from?

Horse meat from Poland ended up in ground beef in Ireland isn't so far-fetched when you understand how the industry operates. Dr. Friedlander, DVM, a former USDA inspector and trainer used 2 see "big tubs of beef from different plants ground together" This makes it difficult 2 trace liability 2 any particular plant in the case of e-coli contamination".

The Kansas City Star went inside four of America's largest packing plants (Cargill, JBS, Tyson & National Beef), & found tubs of scraps waiting 2 be ground into burgers, just like the ones Dr. Friedlander talked about. The practice was also exposed in a 2 009 New York Times article, "The Burger That Shattered Her Life." (E-coli contamination is a high risk & it's not just disparate parts of different cattle from different plants & countries that find their way into burger meat, but pork & horse meat as well.)

2 : States want 2 cash in on slaughtering horses

Rural U.S. lawmakers w/ties 2 the cattle industry & economically-strapped horse breeding registries have been pushing 2 reopen horse slaughter plants in the states since the last three plants shut down in 2007.

Tuesday February 5th, OK lawmakers are poised 2 try again when bill SB375 is scheduled for review. What's behind it are the 150,000 U.S. horses now being slaughtered in Canada & Mexico 4 markets overseas plus the 45,000 mustangs captured by the BLM (& warehoused @ taxpayer expense 2 make more room 4 cattle). They also want 2 slaughter horses disposed of by racetracks, rodeos, horse breeders & owners who no longer want their horses.

OK Sen. Mark Allen is trying 2 grab that business 4 his state, which ranks 4th nationally in horse ownership. His bill (SB375) would overturn OK's existing ban on selling/producing horsemeat—a somewhat dodgy maneuver, given OK's billing as the "US horse show capital"

That's the news from a Jan 28 Daily Mail article, & there r countless others just like it popping up all over the media. And this is relevant here—especially since U.S. horses r more medicated than anywhere in the world w/drugs banned in food animals by the FDA, where even 1-time use is illegal in any animal slaughtered 4 human consumption.